


Aftermaths

by AAAAAGGGGHHHHH



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Ellie really had to go and lose everything, Gen, I have a love/hate relationship with Abby, I really just want everyone to have a happy ending, This is gonna be two separate stories about Ellie and Abby’s lives a year after tlou2, Trans Male Character, but I think everyone does tbh, but there’s always angst, i don’t feel like buying grammarly premium, i probably put too much effort into this, mature is for blood and swearing and shit, obviously, oh my god too many tags, sorry if some of the grammar is bad, this will probably be pretty fluffy at times
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:01:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29102964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AAAAAGGGGHHHHH/pseuds/AAAAAGGGGHHHHH
Summary: Abby has a surprise for Lev for his birthday. However, something always seems to get in their way. Regardless of the threat, though, they both will always try to look for the light.-Ellie does what she can to survive. The worst threat she faces, however, is herself. Everything and everyone she’s lost will always come back to haunt her. Now, she just has to keep looking for something to fight for.
Relationships: Abby & Lev (The Last of Us), Abby/Owen (The Last of Us) (mentioned), Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us) (kinda)
Kudos: 5





	Aftermaths

The clear ocean water sparkled in the gorgeous California sun. The few clouds that dotted the sky gave a quiet respite to the overwhelming blue that reflected off of the sea. A few seagulls soared through the air, squawking and dipping every once in a while to catch their meal. The loud hum of a speedboat engine overwhelmed the various ocean sounds that also occupied Abby and Lev’s ears. The two were sitting relaxed, with Abby in the back steering the boat and Lev in the front taking in the breath-taking view. The two rarely got off of Catalina Island with their new positions as Fireflies. So on the rare occasions that they did, it always had them slack-jawed. 

“Abby,” Lev piped up, turning to face the woman, “how much longer?” he asked, curiosity lining his eyes.

“Not too long, now,” she said, smiling softly to herself.

“Why can’t you just tell me where we’re going?” His face scrunched up in confusion as the words left his lips.

“I told you, it’s a surprise,” She responded light-heartedly.

“Oh, sorry,” He said thoughtlessly, looking back to the view.

She leaned forward and lightly nudged him in the shoulder with her elbow.

“Have a little faith, kid. I wouldn’t go through all this trouble if I thought this was gonna flop.” She said, obviously proud of herself.

“Flop?” Lev asked, his curious nature returning in full swing.

“It means to go wrong, or like, fail.” She responded, chuckling to herself.

“Oh, okay.” He turned back to the view.  
Lev always had trouble staying calm on boat rides, even with both of their massive amounts of experience. So Abby always tried to keep small talk going to distract him.

The two left the island after Abby requested time off for Lev’s birthday. She didn’t have any trouble getting him out of school because of her rank.  
In the year since the incident with that girl, which they rarely talked about, Abby had climbed the ranks quickly due to her years of leadership experience. It hadn’t taken long for her to regain most of her muscle mass either. Her hair, though, was shorter, and she kept it in a small braid like how it was back in Salt Lake City.

Looking over, she noticed that Lev was shaking. It was slight, almost unnoticeable. But he had tells that had become easy to pick up on. Seeing him uncomfortable made her uncomfortable. So she opted to continue the small talk rather than let him suffer in silence. 

“Hey, if you ever want to have Monica over for dinner, just let me know,” Abby said nonchalantly. 

“What do you mean?” Lev asked skeptically.

“I don’t know. Just seems like she’s been coming over a lot recently.” Abby continued, feigning ignorance. 

“Oh, uh, yes, she needed help with an assignment, so I invited her over.” His face became dusted with pink.

“Yeah, you guys must get a lot of homework.” She pressed.

His face was full-on red now. His eyes seemed to dart in every direction other than Abby’s as he stuttered. Finally, though, he gave in.

“Why do you insist on making me feel embarrassed.” Lev chuckled, leaning back a little in his seat.

“Look, kid, my dad used to do this kind of stuff to me. It’s called being a teenager.” She explained with a shit-eating grin. 

“With you and Owen?” He asked, sounding more pensive.

“Yeah,” Abby responded bittersweetly, looking past Lev, slightly to the left at the horizon in the distance.

That morning, when they first left the island, she had seen a seal gliding through the deep ocean waters. It reminded her of Owen and their day at the aquarium several years before. It left a small ache of sadness and guilt in her gut that stuck with her. 

“Hey, this was supposed to be about you,” She said in mock annoyance, snapping back to the situation, 

“Monica, spill.” She said, returning to her relentless teasing.

“We’re just friends, I promise.” He said unconvincingly. 

Abby hummed skeptically in response but decided to leave it. The main reason being that they were approaching the beach where they were going to dock. Lev seemed to forget all about the conversation that they were just having when he saw the shore. His eyes sparkled with anticipation; it made Abby smile. 

As they pulled into the beach, Abby began grabbing her backpack.

“C’mon, kid, grab your things. It’s a bit of a hike to the surprise.” She said, patting him on the shoulder as she stood.

Lev hoisted his new backpack that Abby had gotten him as an early birthday present onto his shoulders. The two hopped out of the boat as he pulled his bow from its strap and let it rest comfortably in his grip. 

“Am I ever gonna be able to convince you to use a gun?” Abby said, playfully rolling her eyes at him.

“We’ve had this conversation before. Why would I need to? My bow works just fine,” He started, “I’ve used it my whole life. I don’t see the point in learning how to use something else.”

“Yeah, but what if you run out of arrows?”

“What if you run out of bullets?” 

“I can just hit them with the stock.” 

“And I can just make more arrows.” He said matter-of-factly. She stammered, trying to come up with a response but couldn’t.

She sighed, defeatedly, and said, “Damn, kid, I swear sometimes you are just too damn smart.” She responded, smiling softly. 

“Thanks,” Lev replied quietly, looking down.

After a moment, she said, “Hey, come on. At this rate, it’ll be dark by the time we get there.” She started walking and motioned for him to follow. Lev’s grip tightened on his bow, and he began to stride forward to catch up with her. 

The two stepped up onto the splintering wooden pier that connected the beach and the parking lot. 

The faint, muted sound of a guitar riff wrung out before the familiar sound of a punk rock band Abby recognized filled the air. She looked over, confused. Then, she saw that Lev had already taken out the MP3 player he found in an abandoned music store a few weeks prior and had begun blasting music through his headphones. 

A couple of weeks after the two had arrived on Catalina Island, Abby had introduced him to the music that she had grown up loving. For hours she showed him her favorite genres of music. When she showed him some classic punk bands, Ramones, The Clash, Black Flag, etcetera, he was immediately hooked and became obsessed with the distorted rebel music. When he found the MP3 player, his entire world shifted. From that point on, it was almost impossible to separate him from the device.

“Hey, Lev,” She tried to no avail.

“Lev,” She continued.

“Oh my fucking god,” She mumbled to herself.

“Lev,” She said much louder, waving a hand in front of his face. He reflexively dodged backward and quickly yanked the headphones from his ears. He turned to her and stared her down defensively.

“What was that for?” He asked, annoyed.

“I thought I told you to leave that at home,” She started, “What if it gets broken?”

“Why does it matter?” He countered.

“I just don’t want you to be upset if something happens to it.”

“But-”

“Just do me a favor and put it away for now. You can listen to it more later.” She said, motioning at the device.

He sighed and said, “Okay,” shoving it in his backpack. 

Seeing his disappointment, she decided to tell a joke. In her experience, a good joke always loosened the tension between them.

“Hey, wanna hear a joke?” 

“Uh, sure,” He said, looking up from the ground.

“Why can't a nose be 12 inches long?”

“Why?”

“Because then it would be a foot." She said proudly.

After a second, the boy began snickering to himself. The deep scars on his cheeks rippled and warped on his face to fit his smile.

“I think you’ve told that one before.” He said, collecting himself.

“No, I think that was the one about the foot-long sandwich.” She responded.

“Oh, yeah,” He said, smiling happily.  
As they continued walking, and the potent smell of seawater faded, the smell of death, decay, and abandonment returned to its rightful home in their nostrils. They were both used to it. It was an unfortunate side effect of growing up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Once he adjusted to the shift, Lev’s mind raced with possibilities of what the surprise was. The anticipation was killing him. Finally, as they reached the street, he couldn’t take it anymore.

“Is it okay if I try to guess what the surprise is?” He asked curiously.

“Alright, but I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to figure it out.” She said, beginning to notice that they were getting closer to the city.

“Is it...a new bow?” He asked, eyes lighting up at the possibility.

“Guess again.”

“Is it a knife?”

“Think...less practical.”

“Is it a...T-shirt? Or maybe a pair of shoes.”

“You are terrible at guessing.” She chuckled.

“How am I supposed to guess when you haven’t even given me a single clue.”

“I told you, think less practically.”

Her vagueness had him stumped. Abby could see it in his eyes. He was looking down stoically with his brows furrowed in deep thought like he usually did when he couldn’t figure something out. 

“Here, what is something you want more than anything else?” She said it like that was supposed to clear up everything. If anything, it only served to make him even more confused.

“That’s so vague, could you be more-”

“Hold up,” She cut him off mid-sentence, “The road is blocked. We’ll have to find another way around.” She said, looking at her surroundings.  
Lev had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t noticed the abandoned FEDRA checkpoint covered in debris that cut off their path into the city. 

“This rubble wasn’t here when I scoped this place out a week ago,” She started, thinking out loud,  
“There might be hunters around here.” Her demeanor had quickly switched from fun and juvenile to cynical and hardened. The shift was jarring.

“There, that building on our right,” She started, pointing to the tall building, “I don’t hear any infected but be careful.” 

As soon as she finished, she picked up a metal pipe from the ground, spun it around in her hands, and swung at the window, shattering it on impact. She pulled out her Glock and quickly climbed through the now glassless window with Lev hot on her heels. The two landed with a thud on the wooden floor of what seemed to have been a coffee shop. 

It was hard not to imagine what the place would have been like in the old world. The smell of bitter coffee and small baked goods mixed with the smell of new books, the sounds of light chatter, and studying. Abby probably would’ve liked it. But that world was in the past. Now, it was just another obstacle in their way. 

Instinctively, they both began their usual routine of scavenging the building. After a few minutes of rummaging around, Abby spoke up. 

“This place looks pretty picked over.”

“I bet we can cut through that backroom over there,” Lev said, pointing to the door sitting ajar across the room.

“Copy that,” She responded, walking over to it with Lev close behind. As she reached the door, she began pushing it open lightly, quickly stepping back just in case it was a trap. She sighed, relieved when the door didn’t blow up. Wiping the beads of sweat from her brow, she stepped through the door, motioning for Lev to follow. The ‘backroom’ turned out to be a long hallway connecting other stores, like a small strip mall. As she stepped forward, she motioned for Lev to be as quiet as possible as he began to walk right beside her. Abby still wasn’t convinced that there weren’t hunters in the area. 

Their run-in with the Rattlers in Santa Barbara had changed her. If even the slightest thing felt off, she was ready. As it turned out, her skepticism was well placed. A few steps down the hall, she felt her leg snag on a thin wire. Her heart dropped immediately.

“Fuck!” She yelled, eyes darting around for a solution. 

When she couldn’t find one, she pushed Lev forward and out of danger. Then, the loud sound of an explosion wrang out. However, the bombs, instead of blowing both of them to bits, sounded from above them. Thinking quickly, she jumped backward just as the ceiling crumbled and fell, blocking the small hallway. 

Lev hadn’t seen her jump backward, so he started to panic as he turned around, releasing what had happened. 

“Abby!” He yelled, running forward to try to push past the debris.

“I’m okay.” She called back, trying to keep calm, “I guess we know where all that rubble outside came from.”

“I’m gonna try to clear the path,” Lev said, lifting pieces of the ceiling and throwing them aside.

“Don’t bother. I’ll try to find another way around.” She said, “You should keep going; I’ll catch up.”

“Okay,” He responded uneasily after a moment.

“But be extra careful. That was pretty loud and will probably attract some unwanted attention.” She said, more seriously.

“Got it,” He spoke, turning to head further down that hall. He kept his footsteps quiet, moving lightly on his feet. As he passed the first space, he heard voices coming from around the corner at the end of the hall. He opened the door as quickly and quietly as he could and entered the area. It seemed to have been a commercial sports bar. 

Booths lined the right wall with a long bar on the left. The large middle area had about six or seven square tables with a long table in the middle of the sports bar. He crouched behind the long table and used the listening technique that Abby had taught him. In his head, he counted the people.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four, 

Five,

Six,

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to take them all out in this one area. But they were closing in. His mind raced, trying to think of a solution. As he heard their chatter get closer, he knocked an arrow in his bow, just in case. 

“Wonder if anyone got out alive.” One of the hunters spoke up.

“Nah, I doubt it. Sounded like a pretty big one.” The one next to him replied.

“Wait, why is that door open?” A woman down the hall asked, “You two, go check it out, just to be safe.”

“Alright,”

Lev mentally kicked himself for forgetting to close the door. Once again, he listened. The two men were stepping into the bar. As they entered, they broke off. One began walking around the tables, and the other stepped in the opposite direction, towards the bar area. Lev took advantage of the new blindspot and slowly moved out from behind the table. Quickly and quietly, he bobbed and weaved through the various tables, careful not to draw any attention to himself. 

It would be easier to take out the one by the bar; his friend wouldn’t find his body for a little while. That would give him enough time to take the other one out as well. 

He made himself as small as possible, practically hugging the bar. He listened as he approached, listening to the movements of the man on the opposite side of the bar. Lev strode quicker, maintaining the level of quiet. As he turned the corner and began approaching the man from behind, he took his hunting knife in his right hand. 

Again, he listened. Not for the man in front of him, for the man across the room. It was just to make sure that he wasn’t looking. Sure enough, he wasn’t.

Lev practically leaped forward, pulling the man down below the bar. He grabbed the hunter in a headlock with his right hand and put his left hand over his mouth. Before the man could think, he released his head and stabbed him in the temple with his knife. The adrenaline rushed in Lev’s veins. 

His thoughts became clouded as he pushed the sharp blade further into the man’s skull. When he went limp, it took a second for Lev to realize it. When he finally came down, though, he removed the cold metal from the hunter’s head and quietly set down the corpse. 

After wiping the blood from his hands, Lev disappeared back into stealth, traveling to the other side of the room to get his bearings. He watched the other hunter for a few seconds, predicting his movements. When he felt confident, he began making his way to the man.  
And then, “Hey, Mark, where’d you go?” The man called, “Mark?”

He couldn’t let the hunter warn the others. So he did the only thing he could think of, he took out his bow and, without thinking, shot the hunter in the eye. The man collapsed, making a slight thud, blood oozing onto the dirty floor. Instinctively, he rushed over, retrieving the arrow from the hunter’s bleeding face with a bit of effort. Unfortunately, nothing was ever so easy.

“Hey, Violet; Mark and James haven’t reported back yet.” A hunter spoke up.

The woman sighed, “Alright, you, Ronda, and Lauren go check it out. I’m right behind you.  
Lev couldn’t take on this many people in such a small area. He had to get out. Seeing the door to the street wasn’t blocked, he rushed through the exit. Unfortunately, there was a bell on the door. The second he heard it, he ducked behind one of the abandoned cars that lined the street. 

“What the hell was that?” One of the hunters asked.

“Oh god, someone got Mark and James!” Another replied.

“Find them, now!” The woman that they called Violet yelled.

Lev couldn’t think of a solution. His heart was beating too fast, and every time he crouched, the tight bindings all across his chest made it hard to breathe. A few seconds more and he’d be having a full-on panic attack. The hunters walked through the door and onto the street. One was a short, pale man with straight black hair. Another was a tall, large woman with her red hair tied back. The last one to exit the building was a skinny woman with long blond hair.

“Come out, you sneaky son of a bitch!” The man called.

Knowing that he was out of time, Lev crawled under the car, knocked an arrow, held his breathe, and shot the blonde woman in the forehead.

“Oh shit; Lauren! It came from under the car!” The man shouted as the woman’s body hit the pavement.

Crawling out as fast as he could, Lev, in a last-ditch effort to get away, quickly shot another arrow at the man, hitting him in the thigh.

“Fuck, he shot me in the leg!” 

Before Lev could react, he was grabbed from behind and put into a full-nelson.

“Nice one Ronda.” Another woman, who Lev assumed was Violet, exited the building. She had smooth dark skin, curly dark brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and a smart look in her eyes.

The man bent down and snapped the arrow in half. Without hesitation, he tore the sharp stick from his bleeding skin.

“You little fucking runt.” The man said, impatiently limping forward and decking Lev in the face. Immediately he tasted blood. It was the feeling of bitter, red iron on his tongue; he could feel his face burning. He could tell that it was going to leave a nasty bruise the next day. Then, the man punched him in the gut, and then again before he could react to the first. Once more, and Lev’s head was spinning; he wanted to throw up. He was too nauseous. He was even more breathless than before.

“Nick, stop.” Violet commanded, “We can get information out of him.” She said, stepping in front of the man and facing the gasping teenager. Quickly, he shook off the visceral ache in his stomach and stared at the woman.

“Why are you here? Are you alone?” She interrogated in an assertive tone. 

Even though he felt threatened, Lev’s loyalties lied with Abby. ‘Only through fear may we find our true strength’, he thought to himself repeatedly. Taking a deep breath and saying a quick prayer in his mind, he lifted his head and spat blood in Violet’s face. She backed away immediately, wiping the red ink from her eyes.

She sighed, looking disappointed, and said, “Alright, Nick,”

The man stepped forward once more, grabbing a baton from his belt and preparing to swing. Lev’s mind raced, preparing for the worst, but just before he could hit him, a shot rang out, and Nick fell over, dead with a bullet in the back of his head. 

“Fuck,” Violet muttered to herself, checking her peripherals. 

Everyone looked around, trying to figure out where the shooter was. 

“Does anyone have a visual? How many are there?” Violet’s calm, collected demeanor quickly changed to panic.

Ronda, the woman who held Lev, loosened her grip on the boy just slightly. But it was enough for him to squirm out of the hold. Quickly jumping backward, Lev shot an arrow into the large woman’s side, making her double over. However, Lev hadn’t seen Violet pull her gun. The woman shot at him but missed by a hair. Before she could fire again, another shot from above wrang out, and a bullet pierced her shin. 

As Violet fell to the ground, blood leaking from her leg, Abby jumped down from the second floor with her rifle in hand. Without acknowledging Lev, she stepped over to Randa, pulled out her pump-action shotgun, and shot the woman in the face. 

“You’re a piece of shit,” Violet spoke up shakily, inching forward on her hands and knees. The look on her face was one of rage. 

Abby paused for a moment, a look of sorrowful recollection in her deep blue-grey eyes, “You’re probably right,” She said decidedly, coldly blasting the woman in the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Chapter two is coming in a couple days, but I haven’t slept in like a week so it might take a minute. The mood of this chapter was heavily inspired by the song “Undone in Sorrow” by Crooked Still.  
> Whatever you imagined in your head works, but I imagine that Lev was probably listening to “California Sun” by Ramones on his MP3 player.  
> Like I said in the tags, I’m gonna make another two chapters about Ellie at some point if you wanna see that.  
> Thanks again for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Chapter two is coming in a couple days, but I haven’t slept in like a week so it might take a minute. The mood of this chapter was heavily inspired by the song “Undone in Sorrow” by Crooked Still.  
> Whatever you imagined in your head works, but I imagine that Lev was probably listening to “California Sun” by Ramones on his MP3 player.  
> Like I said in the tags, I’m gonna make another one of these about Ellie at some point if you wanna see that.  
> I love constructive criticism so if you had any issues with the chapter, comment and I’ll try my best to get back to you.  
> Thanks again for reading!


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